Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-03-29
POLITICAL ECONOMY
elUclDATeD ACCORDING TO THE
HENRY GEORGE IDEA.

The Land and Labor Question Bound Up
Together, and Land Standardization the
Effective Cure for All Economic IlIs-A
Southern Republican on the Negro Vote
-Belligerent Jersey Soions.
CHICAGO March % Henry George, the
apostle Of LAM Reform spoke in this city
Monday at Central Music hall to about 1908
people. He stated that the subject Of his
discussion was the labor question: question
that was not a class question IN any sense,
but one to which very little attention was
being paid Still it had to be settled or our
civilization WIS doomed. Defining his theme,
he said the labor question was simply one OF
too many hands and too little work Aye,
some would say, here is the Malthusian
theory. That theory, MIR. George held, was
not tenable in new country like this. Why,
others would say, your view of the labor
question is readily explained by over-produc-
ton. as not this the speaker said, amid
great applause, IAN assertion that want and
suffering are here because there is too much
WEALTH. So much food is produced that peo-
pie have to go hungry; SO much clothing is
manufactured that people must wear their
| old clothes; so many shoes are made that
| children must go barefooted How absurd
Does not all this cry about overproduc-
tion resolve itself down to the bere fact that
what we are suffering from is unjust dis
| Irritation q
Having briefly touched upon the pernicious
institution of female and children's labor,
| Mr. George came to speak upon protective
| oh = H.
| is the tariff for? For the capitaIists3 Oh,
| no; for the laboring men, SO We are told.
| To prevent outSd .rs from doing CUE work,
and at present We are devising means to
| keep the foreigners out, Yet the home
laborer has to lie ida AMI suffer under that
very protective tariff Recurring again to
| the cry OF scarcity of work, the speaker
| directly went for the land question. In
every great city the population of an or
| binary villnge was often crowded into one
block. In the Fourteenth ward of this city
he said, with its $1,000 inhabitants, families
were often found living in one room, with
chalk lines dividing them. Yet two
thirds Of the territory Of the ward
consisted Of vacant lots. The whole great
west had thousands of miles of unproductive
property, and yet people were clamoring for
homes. Here, Mr. George claimed, was thC
very heart of the labor question.
The speaker protested against the imputa
ton that he had drawn his ideas from Cali
| fornia. True, to a certain extent wage
| went up when the placers were discovered
and men could earn sl2 ard $l6 day witt
the most primitive implements. Othe
wages rose correspondingly, but this wa
not the result of the discovery of gold-i
was because the land was free to all Sup
pole gold had been discovered on privat
property, like gas AMI oil in Penusylvani,
and Ohio. Would that discovery hsv
raised wagesa Not much: but it would hav,
created an immense boom in real estate A
the root of all the misery and squalor of tc
day, right in the midst Of our centers OF civ
ilzation, there must be an injustice, an
that injustice was the disinheritance of on
children. Truly, Thomas Jefferson spoke @
self-evident truth The truth was tha
the land belong, vi to the living and not t
the dead. There never was man who h1,
a right to grant away in perpatuty thi
world, or any part OF 1t, for this world wa
not made for any one generation.
Speaking, in conclusion, of the method b
which equal right to land could be obtained
MIR George advanced his well-known theorie
of taking for the Use of the community sue
value as was created by the growth of popI
lation, not any values created by improv,
, ments upon the land The increase in valu
: of land was something created by the con
munity, hence this Increase should be take
for the use of the community. 1t would NJ
be necessary to rent out the land in order
reach this aim, the latter would far bett,
and easier be reached by taxing the land.
After concluding his speech Mr.. Gsore
was asked number of questions The fc
; lowing is one of them and the answer:
Suppose there are two men with 81 o.
, each One invests his money in land, Il
other in money interests. What will Il
man do who hollis the l4ni when the gener,
contiscatiou comes!'
, THE same as the mal dill in the sout
: who paid Sl,a0 for a slave pr,or to ii
emancipation act"